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Thursday, January 25, 2018 | Vol. XCIII, Issue 3 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
SHADES' decline addressed during town hall meeting Club faces attendance, organizational issues Yuri Lee News Intern
Chukwudi Kanu remembers going to SHADES events as a freshman and seeing an open, social community with vibrant events. Now, Kanu is a senior, and SHADES doesn’t have the same gatherings. A decline in the club’s prominence inspired it to hold a town hall meeting on Monday night, where four of the club’s executive board members faced a crowd of roughly 50 people to discuss the organization’s current state and future plans. SHADES formed in 2011 to help empower students of color and the LGBTQ community
and to create a safe space for them. At first, the club saw good attendance, but has recently struggled with maintaining membership, finding students to lead the club and getting space to host meetings. For many attendees, the state of SHADES has been a wake-up call. Kanu, who is majoring in systems science and industrial engineering, said he didn’t expect SHADES’ situation to be so bad. “For an organization like this to get into this type of situation, it’s honestly ‘wow’ to me because they supported a base that actually needs that help, needs that support,” Kanu said. “So it’s a red flag already that they need that support.” Glenn Avisado, the Student Association executive
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Courtney Mitchell/Staff Photographer The SHADES E-Board leads a town hall discussion on the club’s future. The high number of LGBTQ and multicultural groups at BU is partially responsible for SHADES’ decline.
How future shutdowns could affect BU $25K gift Government closure would hinder federal grants
federal research grants, on which many professors rely to support their studies, to employ research assistants and keep their labs running. Kevin Boettcher, the research development specialist for Hannah Walter Pipe Dream News Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, said that when the government shuts down, The federal government reopened so do two of the largest federal grantMonday following a 69-hour shutdown, givers, the National Institutes of Health but the impacts of a future shutdown and the National Science Foundation. could have effects on the Binghamton “Between the two of them, they are University campus. responsible for several million dollars A long-term shutdown could affect of funding that comes to University
researchers here at Binghamton,” Boettcher said. In 2017, BU received $11.2 million from the National Science Foundation in funding for research in fields such as cybersecurity, archeology, chemistry and political science. The University obtained more grant money than most SUNY schools, with only University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University receiving more. As a whole, SUNY received over $87 million from 306 grants last year.
If researchers are working directly with a federal agency like the Environmental Protection Agency or NASA, the impasse could also burden their progress since they might not be able to contact research partners. “Say a professor is working for someone at the Centers for Disease Control,” Boettcher said. “That can really slow down any collaborative work that people might be doing.”
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Anonymous donation creates summer program
University offers tuition insurance
Orla McCaffrey News Editor
Protection available for students who withdraw
company can help you,” Kirwan said. “We have no horse in the race here — this is really just to provide you with something extra that you can pay for.” Qiana Watson, a case management coordinator in the BU Dean of Students Office, said 176 students withdrew from the University last year due to medical
When Binghamton University’s new Health Sciences Campus for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SOPPS) opens this summer, five students will already be working on research projects in pharmacy practice and biomedical research. A $25,000 anonymous donation that BU received last month will fund 10-week summer internships for undergraduates in Harpur College of Arts and Sciences and doctor of pharmacy students in SOPPS. According to Eric Hoffman, associate dean for research of SOPPS, the internships serve the pharmacy school’s research focus. “A summer research internship provides an approach to transferring the passion and interest to the next generation,” Hoffman wrote in an email. The $5,000 stipends provided to students can be used for research costs as well as living expenses incurred by researchers. Students will find Harpur College and SOPPS faculty to oversee their projects and serve as mentors. The donation was earmarked for SOPPS and Harpur College students, and came from a BU alumnus described as an accomplished scientist and entrepreneur. The donor’s own experiences influenced the program’s focus. “His interests were in biomedical research and drug development, and he asked that the funds be used for both [Harpur College] undergrads and SOPPS [doctor of pharmacy] students,” Hoffman wrote. The fund will be exhausted after
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Gillian Kenah News Intern
Getting sick, struggling academically and facing mental health issues are all reasons that students might choose to withdraw from a semester. If they did so after the fourth week of classes, none of their tuition would’ve been refunded. In the past, these students may have been unable to receive a refund on their tuition. Now, Binghamton University is offering tuition insurance that can help them recoup the costs of tuition, as well as the costs of room and board. At the start of this academic year, BU partnered with GradGuard, a tuition protection plan from Allianz insurance company, which offers insurance to both undergraduate and graduate students. Students who pay a fee by the first day of each semester will be refunded their tuition, room and board and other fees if they need to withdraw. More than 100 colleges and universities across the nation have partnered with GradGuard, including all of SUNY’s university centers. The company offers three plans that cost between $100 and $200 per semester. Different plans offer different levels of protection, from partial to full tuition recovery. The Preferred Plan, which refunds up to 100 percent of tuition, fees and room and board in cases of illness, injury or death and up to 80 percent of tuition for students facing mental health challenges, is the company’s most popular option.
Courtney Mitchell/Staff Photographer At the start of this academic year, BU partnered with GradGuard, a tuition protection plan from Allianz insurance company, which offers insurance to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Students without insurance will be charged tuition and fees if they withdraw for any reason following the fourth week of the semester. In fall 2017, 48 students signed up and 41 have signed up for spring 2018. Coverage isn’t available for summer and winter sessions because of their short length. Susan Kirwan, director of student accounts, said BU chose to partner with
ARTS & CULTURE
GradGuard after viewing its presentation at a National Association of College and University Business Officers conference in August 2017. According to Kirwan, many students withdraw each semester due to unforeseeable circumstances, including mental health issues, which factored into the University’s decision to offer the insurance. “The University is really just saying this
to finance pharmacy research
OPINIONS
SPORTS
Late Nite to bring kink to campus with Sexapalooza,
Check out our editors’ picks for this year’s best picture,
Contributing columnist Jessica Gutowitz discusses the intersection of comedy and politics,
Men’s basketball falls to UMBC in Baltimore,
Women’s basketball overpowers the Retrievers at home,
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